


Intriguing

by SpankedbySpike



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 10:50:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16061570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpankedbySpike/pseuds/SpankedbySpike
Summary: There is a time for self-reflection, for sexy encounters, for seizing the opportunity to live a better life and make a difference in someone else'.For Tony, this is the day!





	Intriguing

**Intriguing** by _Spanked by Spike_ (post Iron Man 3 and Captain America Civil War)

It could have been an hour, a whole evening, an eternity or just a moment. Tony couldn’t say but it didn’t matter. He’d lived a full life and still couldn’t fathom what was yet to come. Yet, for the first time in his existence, he had found a calm state of mind. The slender fingers combing through his locks had much to do with it. The offbeat scratching on his scalp just enough to keep him engaged rather than drifting off in the recess of his mind, in the upcoming projects, in the engineering that always need to be tweaked…

His eyes were closed but every other one of his senses was absorbing his surrounding, the soft cotton dressing the lap on which his head was resting , a small crease marking his cheek but not enough of a hindrance to get him to shift position. There was the comforting scent of lily of the valley permeating the space and representing such a change from the engine oil he was mostly surrounded by in his lab that he easily associated it with the fresh fragrance of his Pepper. And there was the marked absence of noise. No rock musing blearing, no newscast in the background, nothing to distract him or focus him, as too often was needed for him to perform.

And that was the crucial element that made this moment distinctive and timeless, he didn’t have to perform. There was no necessity to tinker with an invention, to dazzle the military with a new gadget, to create the best tools and equipment to save the teammates he didn’t have any more, or to impress a genius father too busy changing the paradigms to notice his lonely son or include him in his daredevil world.

For ages, Tony lived for others, for the image he wanted to project, for the strength it was giving him when he believed others would feel like he did not mattered. It’s not that the others mattered either to be honest, his disdain for most of humanity was well known but it was just a façade. Sure he didn’t trust people, but he didn’t wish them ill either. If his inventions and his work could facilitate someone else life, he would work tirelessly to make things happen, but he never was part of those lives. His bubble had been hermetic for so many years...

He cared. In the way he wished others would have too. Still, he had no regrets, because at the end of it, he finally had the courage to reach out and let himself be touched. Not that it had been all fluffy and rosy; it certainly had been a process. Still, you get to have that illusive soul-mate exactly the same way you work on science; one step at a time. And yes, if at first you don’t succeed, you either change the parameters or you change your approach but you don’t have to change the goal or the concept, as trials and errors really do work, he is the living proof of that!

*** *** ***

The back of her hand softly caressed his cheek, a gossamer touch that made him shiver. It was almost nothing, yet, in that moment, was everything; An anchor of sort that put everything else in perspective.

Tony probably had a warped sense of family. He had biological parents of course but his upbringing was all Jarvis and his wife, and, a secluded world that didn’t make him the most sociable or well adjusted person for sure. Somehow in the Avengers he had hoped to relate the best way he knew and engineer a connection of sort. A team of mismatched siblings, with their messes and challenges, all having each other’s back. He’d been honest with Steve during their last altercation; he truly believed that no matter how much he had wanted it, that team was certainly more Rogers’ family than his. Who wouldn’t love the mighty Captain America? A man so purely Wholesome Americana? He’d always been an example, always been the Hero most youngsters dreamed about becoming… Tony was not that. No sane parent would look at him and direct their kids to be more like him. It didn’t matter anyway…

Now, as these soft fingers followed the curve of his ear shell and found the soft hair on the nape of his neck, he knows without an ounce of a doubt, that he is part of the Avengers, he just had to face the fact they weren’t his in a way supportive families are.

These are all exceptional people, with extraordinary stories, with outstanding loyalties and incomparable needs. Just like him. And his story included making peace with Pepper. And making it up to Rhodey, thanking Happy, figuring out how to help young Peter not to make the mistakes he made… Okay this already seemed like a project and again he was losing his zen. Tony wiggled a bit, threw an arm around Pepper waist and snuggled even closer. And for the first time since they settled in the sofa, he heard her, a soft intake of air that made him open his eyes. Well one of them. And the blouse that used to be crisp had now a few wrinkles, but it still was the best sight ever.

Because at the end of the day; being autonomous, had been essential to his survival. Seeing his creativity give birth to technological innovations had certainly added to his confidence level, even his inherited financial strength had helped him stay independent while also adding to the burden of fame he had to navigate. To him, this was all parts and parcels of the person he had been bred to be. A strong individual that didn’t need anyone else, under any circumstances…

The problem was that he had to learn to rely on others, to care about others, to play well with others. And that was still a work in progress. He’d clashed with the Avengers, he’d clashed with Pepper, and at the end of the day he had to find himself. The man he wanted to be, the one he knew he was.

Of course it involved some groveling, abject apologizing, some late nights without the comfort of a good bottle, some self-introspection, and learning to accept the unconditional love of others. Others who didn’t care about his persona, who saw behind the asshole he could be, some who even saw the distressed emotional orphan he had been. And that was one hell of a way to face his own emasculation!

Being a self-centered jerk wasn’t as sustainable as people thought, and thank Lord for Pepper and Happy for giving him an opportunity to tame his arrogance, to let them in, and paradoxically to be invited to reach out to them as well.

*** *** ***

Today, he would be ready to have another face off with the Avengers, a discussion with Steve, find Bruce or whatever, but only because of this: Pepper sweet arms and Tony sweet love for her.

He certainly would have loved to say it was epic and unique. It wasn’t per se. It had been full of soaring highs and dreaded lows, and yet today’s cruising speed was exactly what he had needed, what allowed him to be the man Peter admired so much, the one that Pepper would want to spend a lifetime with, the one that justified Happy carrying that ring around for all those years.

Nothing is easy but no obstacle is insurmountable either; and Tony found that better than the sex was the intimacy; The knowing in every cell of your body that the person sharing your life is the perfect companion.

Tony couldn’t have foreseen it. Things with Pepper didn’t progress as they were written in archetypal novels. He had always felt exhilarated seeing her; she challenged him, kept him on his toes, and helped him in ways he wasn’t willing to keep track of. He had enough issues with his own frailty, he certainly wasn’t going to stop and make a list of all the ways in which she saved his company, saved him…

Because he hadn’t rushed into a meaningless lovemaking session and because she hadn’t even allowed that door to open, most people that knew them both assumed they had developed a form of sibling connection. Relying on an invisible bond that could only come from the silent rapport they always appeared to have, the one that made them stand shoulder to shoulder against the whole nasty world.

The young Stark had grown up cut from others, easily determining he didn’t have to give any form of respect to anyone else but Jarvis, and after much hard work, Rhodey. Esteem had to be earned, anything and anyone else was just background noise, until she came into his life, until she took over the mundane distractions, until she helped him see the big picture, the man he could really be.

Her admiration for his accomplishments, her regard for his commitment to his craft coupled with his appreciation of her sense of observation, her efficient handling of the hurdles sent his way by the vultures in the business world he was meant to navigate and her devotion to keep him unscathed certainly helped add to the intrigue, and make their relation much more of a kinship than ever thought possible.

So what if he didn’t break into sweats when they were meeting, what if his hands didn’t tremble, if his mind wasn’t flustering when she was with him? He wouldn’t have used the word love, too weary of it, but he wouldn’t confuse friendship with attachment, he wouldn’t turn his back to the tenderness they could share behind the laughs and taunts that made their witty spirits banter at all times.

The affection growing between them had been a long time coming, and yes, as his life became the circus it did, the grace of her presence made things much more bearable, and forced him to face a truth he hadn’t been eager to admit. What linked them was much more than infatuation, more than the elated feeling of a liaison; it was a passionate obsession coupled with a steady sense of closeness. It was a yearning to seduce, and hold, and enchant that he couldn’t have guessed existed in him before.

Now, what he feels is visceral, it made him a companionable person, able to interact with one more human being at a level he never imagined; finally accepting to share his most vulnerable moments with a person that has the most valuable of things in this world: a caring soul.

Sharing a bed with Pepper was incredible. He didn’t have to be fearsome or confident or resorting to his bag full of tricks, he just had to let himself care. Discovering her body was this sweet, slow torture that filled them both with so much anticipation, Tony wouldn’t have the words to describe the pleasures brought by that worship of a skin so soft, and so warm, and so receptive… Well, maybe he could find the words then…

The one thing he couldn't describe is how thrilling her kisses are. His toes physically curl when she lavishes that spot behind his ear with wet kisses full of intent, his mind stop functioning when she ravishes his mouth, his eyes can’t stay open when she decides to pepper small bites on his excited nipples and when she reaches his cock and suck the living daylight out of his brain, he is absolutely putty in her hands.

Not that he doesn’t give as good as he gets, giving this genuine work of art the attention she deserves, until the full meaning of what the French calls so aptly _la petite mort_ , makes them both forget anything that is not them. When he loses himself in her body, he gives her as well his soul, incapable of holding back, of hiding his spirit, his heart or his psyche.

And now that she is the keeper of who he is, he feels free to be hers’, to stop hiding behind witty repartees and flippant suggestions to be the best he could be for her. Because intimacy is something purely Pepper, she made him discover the meaning of the notion that being together was better on so many levels, more profound, more meaningful, more tangible and worth fighting for.

So, yes, if it means lazing around in her arms, he’d call it a win; If it means reliving the gloriousness that was their last lovemaking session and fantasizing about the next one, then why not? Sure, like many steady couples they weren’t hot bunnies going at it on every surface at every moment of the day, and the mere mention of a quickie disappeared from Tony’s vocabulary, because devotion is what this was really about.

At the end of the day, their shared life was intriguing, more than the complex directions he ended up being pulled in with the Avengers, more than the back stabbing of the scientific and business branches of his business, more than the public perception the journalists decided to communicate with their readers. With Pepper, every moment was unique, everyone fulfilling, every minute spent away thrilling as it was rightly filled with both fantasies and expectations. He wishes he would have understood what personal satisfaction meant much earlier but he also was ready to own up to the decadent pleasures he had taken for granted and now can fully appreciate. None of it mattered anymore though; He’d concede and confess to the new world order he committed to, the one populated by Pepper that love was indeed intriguing and worth it.

 

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in months and there are likely grievous mistakes in this fic.   
> Sorry for any error, I do not have a beta in this fandom, so of course if you notice anything please take a minute to comment or sent me a message and I will gladly take care of the corrections needed.  
> Thanks for reading, it's appreciated!


End file.
